Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn

Prince Arthur
Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
Photograph by Alexander Bassano, c. 1885
10th Governor General of Canada
In office 13 October 1911 – 11 November 1916
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	Robert Borden (Canadian) H. H. Asquith (British)
Preceded by	The Earl Grey
Succeeded by	The Duke of Devonshire
Born	(1850-05-01)1 May 1850 Buckingham Palace, London, England
Died	16 January 1942(1942-01-16) (aged 91) Bagshot Park, Surrey, England
Burial	23 January 1942 Royal Vault, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle 19 March 1942 Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore
Spouse	Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia ​ ​ (m. 1879; died 1917)​
Issue	Margareta, Crown Princess of Sweden Prince Arthur of Connaught Lady Patricia Ramsay
Names Arthur William Patrick Albert
House	Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (until 1917) Windsor (from 1917)
Father	Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Mother	Queen Victoria
Signature
Education	Royal Military Academy, Woolwich
Military career
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1868–1942
Rank	Field Marshal
Unit	Royal Engineers Royal Regiment of Artillery Rifle Brigade
Commands held	Inspector-General of the Forces Commander-in-Chief, Ireland Third Army Corps Aldershot Command Southern Command Bombay Army
Battles/wars	Fenian Raids Battle of Eccles Hill Anglo-Egyptian War
Awards	Volunteer Officers' Decoration Territorial Decoration

Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (Arthur William Patrick Albert; 1 May 1850 – 16 January 1942) was the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He served as Governor General of Canada, the tenth since Canadian Confederation and the only British prince to do so.

Arthur was educated by private tutors before entering the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich at 16 years old. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the British Army, where he served for some 40 years, seeing service in various parts of the British Empire. During this time, he was also created a royal duke, becoming Duke of Connaught and Strathearn as well as Earl of Sussex. In 1900, he was appointed as Commander-in-Chief, Ireland, which he regretted; his preference was to join the campaign against the Boers in South Africa.^[1] In 1911, he was appointed as Governor General of Canada, replacing Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey, as viceroy. He occupied this post until he was succeeded by Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire, in 1916. He acted as the King's, and thus the Canadian Commander-in-Chief's, representative through the first years of the First World War.

After the end of his viceregal tenure, Arthur returned to the United Kingdom and performed various royal duties there and in Ireland, while also again taking up military duties. Though he retired from public life in 1928, he continued to make his presence known in the army well into the Second World War, before his death in 1942. He was Queen Victoria's last surviving son.